Latest

  • Legal Issues That Float in the Cloud

    Cloud computing is a growing phenomenon for many businesses, large and small, promising significant efficiencies and cost savings. But, as with anything new, computing in the cloud poses some unforeseen legal issues.

  • Navigating the World of Social Media and the Job

    Social media are transforming the world around us, and not just the world of our family and friends. Understanding how the new tools of social interaction impact the job is part of the role of today’s effective manager.

  • Why Meetings Fail and How to Make Them Work

    Have you seen too many eyes-glazed-over expressions betraying a lack of interest at your employee meetings? Getting folks to pay attention at meetings is important, and there are ways to make it happen.

  • A Renaissance for U.S. Nuclear Power? Not Anytime Soon

    In many quarters, nuclear power generates enthusiasm. A single pound of reactor-grade uranium oxide produces as much electricity as 16,000-plus pounds of coal—enough to meet the needs of the average U.S. household for more than one year. And whereas burning coal emits carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, nuclear power generation is virtually emissions […]

  • California’s RAM for Small Renewables

    With its powerful new renewable portfolio standard, California will boost the market for small renewable technologies. The key is the reverse auction mechanism, which fine-tunes the regulatory regime.

  • Power Grid Cybersecurity: How to Achieve Results in an Uncertain Regulatory Environment

    Cybersecurity of U.S. electric infrastructure has become a major issue on the national agenda, posing challenges to how we structure, construct, and regulate our power system. This is the first of a two-part article looking at legal and regulatory issues surrounding electric system cybersecurity.

  • California Adopts Final Cap-and-Trade Regulation

    After three years of development, dozens of public workshops, and hundreds of meetings with stakeholders, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) on Thursday adopted a final rule to cap California’s greenhouse gas emissions and put a price on carbon. The cap-and-trade program starts in 2013 for electric utilities and large industrial facilities.

  • Florida Regulators Greenlight Cost Recovery for New Nuclear Builds, Capacity Additions

    Florida’s Public Service Commission (PSC) on Monday approved cost recovery amounts for construction of new nuclear power facilities and additions to existing nuclear plants planned by Progress Energy Florida and Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL). The decision would help secure “a diversified and stable energy future for Florida,” regulators said.

  • FERC: Gas Demand to Result in Supply Constraints

    Surging coal prices have continued to prompt generators to displace some coal used for power generation with natural gas, and gas demand is again expected to jump this winter, which could pose some supply restraints, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said in its Winter 2011-2012 Energy Market Assessment.

  • DOE Invests $60M to Reduce Cost of CSP Technologies

    The Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking contenders for a three-year-long funding opportunity for applied scientific research to advance novel concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies. The $60 million investment is part of the DOE’s SunShot Initiative, a collaborative effort to reduce the cost of solar energy 75% and make it cost competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade.